Chapter 9 Day 4
"What is amazing about this arena ? Well I must say it has an aesthetic I haven't often explored. I've often prized myself on trying to execute a different style every time I bring the games to you. I'm particularly fond of the creatures we've created for this one. They all have a personal touch that I think will entertain greatly. We've also tailored some of them based on the tributes' greatest and deepest fears, which is a very different approach than usual. I also wanted to move away from the pastel colours of last year. I wanted something that reminded me of certain forgotten tales and mysteries, which is why I've added another dimension to the arena this year. One that would qualify as a game inside of a game."
– Magnus Bane, Head gamemaker, Alicante Today
A fog had risen for a few hours now. It was thick and it annoyed every single one of them. The newly acquired witchlight was rendered useless by it. It was hard to track anything down in this weather, even with their goggles. They had found a trail leading them to an unexplored side of the arena. There was no sign of any of the mutations tonight. It was eerily quiet. Alec was reminded of the quarries of district 2. Often fog would descend upon the area. When it intermixed with the dust of adamas it would render suffocation easy and breathing became painful when you were exposed to it in the long run. Lydia was clearly on the same train of thoughts. The way she walked was tense and on edge. Even her breathing wasn't as focused as usual. She didn't like quarries either and rightfully so. Alec wondered if she was thinking of John because his mind trailed back to Max, to the accident, the dust-filled fog that hadn't left the area for weeks on end in its aftermath. He wondered how his brother was doing.
There was another house up ahead. It was surrounded by the fog. There was a light visible from the outside on the upper floor. Alec felt the tendrils of tiredness weighing heavy on his head. It felt as if his skull was stuffed with cotton. His limbs felt sore. Yet again he hadn't slept well. He had taken two watch turns. Every time he closed his eyes he was afraid he wouldn't be fast enough, reacting enough, aware enough. It reminded him of the one whole week they had been trained to stay awake for, at the institute. The mission was to be patrolling the city in active rotation shifts. It was a test to see who was able to stay awake the longest without breaking. Most people weren't able to get through the third day. Alec had crashed on day four. Even though he had now slept more than during training, his thoughts wandered toward how long it would take before he started seeing things again.
He heard Aline and Lydia talk about ambushing and Alec felt like he couldn't care less. He scratched the underside of his chin. They settled on a plan to trap the door, preventing any escape. They had shovels. It wouldn't take too long for them to dig an uneven path that could make the tribute or tributes residing in the house trip if it tried to escape through the door. Alec volunteered to guard the outside. The night vision goggles cancelled out enough of the fog so Aline tossed them to him.
When the door opened it made a creaking sound that was anything but discreet. A gush of cold air made Alec rub over his arms. His head was suddenly more painful than before. He really didn't like low temperatures. It just made his headaches worse. He positioned himself next to the door when his allies made their way in. He would have leaned against the wall weren't it for the just as cold surface it embodied. Alec shook his head. He would drink if he didn't have to keep his focus.
There was silence. He couldn't hear anything from the inside. The light wasn't coming from the ground floor and soon Alec was bathed in the dark. He put on the goggles to keep a decent field of vision. The moon was looming and huge. He hadn't had the chance to take a look at it until now. He wondered how far the fog extended, if it was the whole area or just this part of the arena. A sudden movement at the border of the trees caught his attention. There was something lurking there.
Alec quenched his curiosity. At best it was an animal, even if they had yet to encounter any wildlife; or another tribute that was wandering about the house. The worst would be a mutt. In any case he shouldn't get distracted. He reinforced his grip on his feather-staff. He exhaled. His head throbbed but his senses were on alert. It didn't come closer and there was no more movement. Just eerie silence. Maybe he was indeed starting to see things.
"Alec," he almost hit Lydia as she appeared in the doorway. He pursed his lips, keeping down the instinct to yell at her. "There is no one up here. What's wrong ?" She asked, probably startled by his expression.
"Nothing, I thought I saw something." Lydia frowned. "It doesn't matter." He brushed it off, a bit annoyed that she had been able to sneak up on him.
"A tribute ?" She insisted. He took off the goggles and made his way in the house. 'I said it doesn't matter' he muttered from between his teeth. He wanted to get it over with. He walked inside. Lydia scouted the environment. To say the house was cold was an understatement: It was freezing. When Alec exhaled he could see the condensation of his breath.
The ground floor was different compared to the other two houses. It was one empty room and a staircase. The light from upstairs was enough for Alec to navigate. Lydia joined him shortly with a witchlight, she affirmed there was nothing outside.
The layout was reversed. Downstairs was now the empty room while upstairs was accommodated with furniture. Meliorn was warming himself up at the lit fireplace. There were remains of an encampment. A broken pumpkin that still had remains of food and such. There was even a quilt laid out on the floor. Aline was inspecting it. Nothing gave away how many tributes had been residing here. Alec noticed there were no actual windows. He shivered, it was really cold in here.
"Anything ?" He asked Aline, who shook her head.
"There is no way of telling how long since the tribute was here. The footprints you leave on the floor seem to freeze over quite quickly. But since the quilt is still a bit warm I would think it was just a few minutes before we arrived. I can also confidently say it's just one tribute." Alec looked around. "The food, it's not enough for one person. Next, I can't imagine how a group of people would agree to stay in this kind of environment for long."
"The fog seems to dissipate at this height." Lydia had walked toward the window opening and looked outside. "I can see the trees clearly from here."
The axe which flew by came as a total surprise. For a moment Alec thought that Aline got dismembered. Her scream was visceral. Tears broke down her cheeks. Lydia was taken hostage. An axe was pulled close to her throat, threatening her. Alec stared down at the tribute of district 10. Her hair was pulled in several braids and there was a mean cut at the height of her eyebrow and cheek.
"Nobody moves," Alec ordered. Meliorn had come to Aline's aid who was sobbing. Lydia was staying stiff. But she wasn't alarmed.
"Alec, we need to use a syringe. She is losing a lot of blood." Meliorn sounded calm above Aline's sobbing. Alec had to be careful. Aline might already be dead. He didn't want to lose Lydia too.
Alec didn't stop looking at their attacker when he answered. He didn't want to even look wavered. "Leave it in there. Don't remove it." He could physically hear Meliorn objecting to his order. Nevertheless he listened to Alec.
"What do you want ?" He asked. Aline probably passed out since he couldn't hear her anymore.
"Safe passage. You give me my belongings, you give me medical equipment and…" The tribute didn't smile and gave a pointed look that she wouldn't hesitate to slice open Lydia's throat. "She lives."
"You have my word." Alec broke their stare down. Found a backpack and started to stuff everything he was seeing around. He tried not to look at Aline. Her blood was soaking the floor. He was glad to see that only half of the medical box was in Meliorn's bag. He discreetly left the medical syringe in. He half folded the quilt. The bag looked like it was ready to burst.
"You're going to come with me and give me the bag once we're out. You first." Alec put down his feather-staff to not appear threatening. He was hardly disarmed, but he wanted to show his cooperation. He really didn't like the idea of leaving the room with Aline injured and losing blood. But one glance at Meliorn reassured him that she wasn't going to be left alone.
"There were no axes at the cornucopia. Were those gifts ?" Once they were downstairs she circled him. He extended the newly made up bag at the tribute. She snatched the backpack from his hands quickly enough that Lydia was unable to make any move to liberate herself. She moved closer to the door.
"The Huntress doesn't always throw her axes accurately." Alec realised that with the amount of axes the tribute was carrying, it meant she had been able to survive prolonged exposure to the mutation. It was an impressive feat.
"There is something in the dark, lurking. It will only attack if you're in the woods alone." She exchanged this information willingly. He let the surprise show on his face. He hadn't expected her to do this. There was hardly a possibility for an alliance between them. She had always felt like a lone agent. She was Cleophas' trainee after all.
"We trapped the entrance door. Be careful where you put your feet." Lydia groaned disapprovingly. Alec ignored it. The tribute from 10 nodded in appreciation.
"Until we meet again." She shoved Lydia hard against Alec who caught her before they would both fall on the floor.
Lydia got back on her balance as quickly as possible. Alec grabbed her wrist to prevent her from using the unsheathed throwing knife. The tribute from 10 disappeared into the mist.
"Don't," Lydia looked at him as if she was personally offended by his interception. "I gave my word." He explained. Lydia pursed her lips together as if she had eaten something sour. But she relaxed. She was from 2 like him, even if deeds were stronger than words, if you promised something you had better live up to it.
A metallic of grinding metal resonated through the arena, startling them both. It didn't sound like the death tribute canon. Unless they had changed the sound of it. Aline. They had to go back to Aline. They ran back up the stairs. Meliorn was using torn pieces of robe to apply a tourniquet to Aline's arm. He had left the axe in her limb as Alec had instructed. The blood was seeping everywhere. Its smell was invading the whole room. Her limb didn't feel cold yet even if the room did. There was so much blood, so damn much.
"It's not her," Meliorn answered his 'is she dead ?' question as quickly as possible. They all crouched around Aline. They had to act fast or she was going to actually die.
"Listen, we're going to remove it, the axe. At that very moment we're going to need to inject her with the syringe. We need to keep her from losing more blood. Lydia, put pressure on it."
Lydia gave him the syringe. He inhaled. He wasn't very focused and his hands were trembling slightly. He uncapped it. He let a small prayer out. This had better work. This had better, angels be damned, work. Meliorn kept Aline's pulse in check. They all shared a glance. Meliorn counted down and removed the axe. The blood was so warm in contrast to the room. Alec pushed the syringe against Aline's skin. The medical nanites sprung free and enveloped her whole limb.
"Come on." Alec felt himself grit the words repeatedly against his teeth. His heart was racing. He felt restless and unable to focus on anything else. Aline had saved his ass more than once. She didn't deserve to die like this. Not because they had been ambushed from a rooftop. She deserved to die in battle. Like all of them. It was unfair if this was her way to go. He wasn't going to cry but he felt his heart being torn at the unfairness of it all. This is not how it should have happened. He should have been the one checking the windows. He should have been the one checking out the roof.
It took a few minutes until finally the cloud of nanites dissipated. The wound was closed. Aline had stopped breathing. Nobody dared to move. They waited, waited to see if things were changing, waited for her body to either grow colder or for Aline jolt awake. It took time; it took minutes;
But in the end, there was no sound of the canon to be heard.
